Tulips In Northeast
Tulips Are Very Popular in the spring in the Northeast usually in early May
| Favourite Tulips With fifteen divisions of tulips, including many different cultivars, choices are wide. However, since space is limited, I will touch briefly on just a few. Kaufmania, Fosterana, and Greigii. Lily flowered. Rembrandts. Peony Flowered or Double Late tulip. |
| Designing your Spring display Organizing your spring garden for best possible effect can be a challenge. Here are a few pointers to help you. 1. Ensure that your design plan takes into account from where the bed will be viewed - along a driveway, a central bed, a border, or in a naturalized setting at the back of the property. 2. Keep the design simple. Simplicity can be just as arresting as a complex design. For example, for a circular bed, a center piece using red Darwins, with two wide outer rings in two other colours. You could use orange Triumphs for the inner ring, and yellow Darwins for the outer ring. This would be simple, but eye catching. 3. Avoid using more than two or three colours in one bed. A large bed with alternating blocks of red and white tulips, for example, will impact the viewer more than a random mix of colours. Borders or edgings using Lily flowered tulips in apricot and pink pastels along the back, with an outer or front edging of white or pale yellow. 4. Plan carefully for continuous bloom. For example, you could plan your early tulips for a bed that gets shade from a deciduous tree in summer, but is open in the spring. Mid-season and late tulips could be planted in areas that remain mostly in the sun all the time. If you would like to receive detailed information about Tulips, including a complete list of the fifteen Tulip divisions; bed preparation, planting, and disease information - please contact |
Irises
This Article was ritten for Colorado but the principles are the same for the Northeast
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KUSA - Colorado's climate certainly suits iris. They grow almost with no care. Settlers first planted them here in the mid 1800's. You still can find them growing at old homesteads on the plains, even though the houses may have nearly disappeared. They'll perform a bit better, however, if you give them a little attention. They benefit from being divided every five to ten years, It really doesn't matter--the iris are in no hurry. You might notice that they've stop flowering as well as they have and that the clump is getting crowded. That's the time to take action. Iris can be divided at almost any time during the growing season. It might be best to do it now, just as they finish blooming, or you'll forget until next year. Start by using a spade or digging fork to lift a clump. You can use brute strength or a serrated knife to cut the clump into pieces. What you're after is to separate it into single pieces of rhizome (the thick root) with a single "fan" of leaves attached. Cut away old, pithy pieces in favor of thick, plump rhizomes. You'll doubtless have more pieces than you could possibly transplant. Save them for friends and co-workers but keep the roots moist. As you transplant the new pieces, select a sunny spot and work a bit of compost into the new holes. Cut the foliage back about by half or a little more. The idea is to help conserve the plant's strength. It can't reestablish its roots and support all that top growth at the same time. Replant the rhizomes about an inch deep. Cutting the foliage back is a one-time deal only at transplanting time. Do not do it every year as this is not only ugly but detrimental to the plant as well. Removing those leaves cuts off the plant's solar collectors. Iris are so tough they'll still try to bloom but their vigor will be much diminished. This transplanting technique works for all kinds of bearded iris, from the tall ones to the miniatures. Other species of iris, such as Siberian, need different treatment. They, too, rarely need to be transplanted and should only be lifted when the clump dies out in the middle. Then fork it up, cut it into halves or fourths with a sharp spade or knife, and replant. With a minimum of care, your iris will reward you with dazzling flowers every year. We're enjoying a great year for them (perhaps because of the moisture-than-usual year). If your clumps have slowed down a bit, do them a favor and transplant them this season.
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